The SCOPE

In this episode of The SCOPE, we explore the opportunities and challenges that devolution brings for place leaders and private sector partners.  Judith Barker, executive director of Place and Economy for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, joins our Roger Evans, Public Sector & Frameworks lead for a candid discussion on the realities of infrastructure delivery. Listen for a c...

How can the planning system support the delivery of large‑scale new communities over decades of change without undermining trust and certainty? In this episode of The SCOPE, Graham Munday is joined by James Scott (Urban&Civic), Michael Parkinson and Alex Jones (Stantec) to explore how flexible planning consents can unlock large-scale development.  Together, they discuss why traditional plannin...

University estates are under pressure. Budgets are tight. Campuses are ageing. Student expectations are rising.  In this episode of The SCOPE, Trevor Payne, Director of Estates at the University of Oxford, and Bryan Murray from Stantec explore how universities can futureready their estates. From smarter use of space and realtime data, to adaptable design, sustainability and climate resilience, the...

techUK described the data centres market as “the backbone of the UK economy”. But as data centres move beyond traditional locations into semi-rural or urban locations, public perception becomes even more important.  How can we quantify their value? How are data centre operators engaging with their host communities? And how are bigger sites enabling a more creative approach to design?  While there’...

With the UK’s grid capacity stretched and an ever-growing need for data centres, what choices do we have to power them?  What impact will grid connectivity reforms have? How can we scale alternative forms of power generation? And could data centres even help to address power loads and support decarbonisation?  Sharing their views are Amy Turner, power connections lead at SEGRO, Jon Clark, associat...

The pace of change and growth in the development of data centres is significant, but how much scope is there to improve their sustainability credentials?  Operational efficiency and power usage can deliver big wins. But what about material choices? How do good intentions make it to reality? Is there an argument that design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) could be adopted more widely?  Putting...

The future is localised energy generation and storage - a smart grid. But what is a smart grid? How does it work? Who benefits? And who do tenants pay for their energy? What does a smart grid look like in both a residential and commercial development? And how does it balance the demands for EV charging? To help answer these questions and more, we are joined by Ben Bowler, a renewables, storage, an...

The Building Safety Act brings ethics, responsibility, and competence to the fore. It demands a change in culture from the construction industry. So, how does this industry embrace culture change? What can we learn from other sectors that have undergone behavioural and cultural change? And crucially, where are we now - is a nervous industry a competent industry? Tackling this brief are James McNay...

From competence to culture change, there's a lot to absorb around the Building Safety Act. So, what is meant by the level of detail required being proportionate to risk? What's the impact of a greater focus on detailed design upfront? Why can't you find Gateway 2 and 3 referenced in the Act? And why is it important to be able to show all your workings-out, just like you did at schoo...

Competence is a key word in the positioning and requirements of the Building Safety Act. How is the industry proving competence? If you're responsible for selecting suppliers or products, how are you assured of their competence? What does this mean to the process of design - why is performance-based design the future? And how is the industry adapting to the changes required from the Building...

The SCOPE is a podcast exploring climate change as a force on, and result of, the built environment.  Our guests are Monika Büscher, professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology, and associate director in the Centre for Mobilities Research at Lancaster University, Greg Marsden, professor of Transport Governance, Institute for Transport Studies, Keith Mitchell, director of Transport and Pl...

The SCOPE is a podcast exploring climate change as a force on, and result of, the built environment. Our first guests are Nels Nelson , a Senior Urban Planner at Stantec’s Urban Places, and Memo  Cedeño from Harvard’s School of Public Health. We discuss the urban heat island effect, how to avoid spending public money where its least needed but most noisily called for, proving common sense, quantif...